Return loss measurements, and other measurements within the context of, illustratively, 1000BaseT (gigabit Ethernet) performed as a function of frequency are typically made using network analyzers, which tend to be very expensive. To reduce total cost, one network analyzer work station is often shared by multiple oscilloscope work stations within the context of a testing environment. As an alternative, time division reflectometry (TDR) oscilloscopes have been produced which include algorithms capable of transforming time domain results into frequency domain results similar to those provided by a network analyzer. However, it is generally perceived that the combination of TDR oscilloscopes and dedicated software packages adapted to compute the time domain parameters and convert these parameters into frequency domain parameters are more difficult to use than conventional network analyzers.
The use of oscilloscopes within the context of network analyzer functions has also been deemed suspect due to the nominal 8-bit dynamic range of standard analog-to-digital converters used in oscilloscopes. As such, test and measurement solutions generally implemented by users tend to employ both network analyzer work stations and oscilloscope work stations to perform, respectively, frequency domain testing tasks and time domain testing tasks.